From what I saw on Saturday (2.5 quarters of Hawaii football), they had an intense defense, a bruising RB, and somewhat mobile QB who runs the read option. Last year they only won one game, but they were in a lot of games. I don’t know if Saturday’s game versus Washington was the norm for Hawaii or an aberration. The same goes for the Beavs. Was PSU the norm? The Beavs’ WR could not separate from PSU, so do they suddenly do it versus Hawaii? Maybe. But I have to go on what I’ve seen so far rather than what should happen.

I do feel Hawaii has two indisputable advantages: Beavs have a long travel and will be fatigued and the home crowd was loud. Norm Chow, imo, is a better fundamental (i.e. false starts, timeouts, etc) coach than Riley so I’d give them the “cleaner play” advantage, too. This is based on what I saw last week and historical performance, but early in the season things can change rapidly. I’m taking Hawaii, mainly due to travel and Banker (mobile QB). What should happen is the Beavs travel a day early so they’re well-rested, dominate Hawaii with their objectively better recruits and senior QB, and bring home the W. What I fear will happen is…

27-24 Hawaii

In California, we’re about to pass another draconian bill (this time pandering to feminist/liberals) stating that a college girl must say “yes” every step of the way, with regard to sex and the sexual process. This includes not just consenting to sex, but every step of the way. So you have to ask her if you can kiss her, get a “yes”, then ask her if you can French kiss her, get a “yes”, then ask if you can touch her breast, get a “yes”, etc etc. Click here to read about it.

This is actually good news for Oregon State athletic department. Why? Because as the number of rape accusations increase on CA college campuses, and they will due to what is defined as rape under this law, football and basketball stars will not even want to mess with California. It’s simply too risky to bang girls on California campuses. Instead, they’ll go to the Arizona, Oregon, and Nevada schools instead. It will take a few years to see the gains from this, but since athletes are the ones most often accused of rape on any given campus, this will be a windfall for every college not receiving California funding.

Chalk it up to the wonderful State of California and “progress”! /sarc. I don’t want to get too political here to lighten the fuck up. Big picture: Beavs might get a nice windfall here. Some guys on the cusp between a Cal and Oregon State might choose the latter due to the risk associated with CA campuses. What NFL team wants a rapist? What high profile athlete wants to take on that risk? Luck of the Beavs in reverse for once. Thanks, liberals.

As many of you know, this idea that “you can’t recruit to Corvallis” drives me nuts. But let’s just pretend for a moment that it’s true.

I’m a big baseball fan…more so than football. And watching the Tigers/Royals fight for the division just reiterates what I instinctually know — that payroll doesn’t matter. It’s how the players on your team play the game that matters. The Tigers have the 4th highest payroll in baseball. The Royals have the 18th highest. I mention these two teams because they’re in the same division. If you want an even more extreme example, take the Dodgers at #1 in payroll and the Oakland A’s at 27th (only 3 teams have a lower payroll). The Dodgers are 76-60, and Oakland is 76-57. What does Oakland do better than the Dodgers? The fundamentals. They pitch well, get on base, and they hit timely. There is also a defined identity (they don’t try to find it every year).

Let’s concede OSU has worse talent than USC and Oregon. Okay, now what? Do we use it as a perpetual crutch, or do we find creative solutions to level it? I argue for the latter. Some ways to do this might be:

1. Recruit speed. “Speed kills”, as the adage goes, and this is true the lower the level of competition. Recruit raw talent if the speed is there. Especially at skill positions and linebacker.
2. Recruit an efficient QB who makes good decisions. Someone like Dan LeFevour would be perfect for OSU. Sure, he will not make the NFL, set Pac-12 passing records, and will not “look the part”, but he’ll do everything right. Again, at a lower level like college ball you can get away with not having a big arm if you have everything else. Because everyone has speed in the NFL a guy like LeFevour would be a disaster. But let some other team recruit the prototypical passer and develop him for the NFL, and instead focus on an all world NCAA level QB. We know Riley passed on Kellen Moore…that was another perfect NCAA QB. There are guys like that out there to be had. Completion % is a lot like OBP in MLB, which is how the A’s win. Efficiency is underrated, so recruit it.
3. Have a nasty secondary. Most NCAA teams pass a lot…make them fear your secondary. Al Afalava was a perfect college safety. 18 year old kids have not yet learned how to be fearless. They will not want to go over the middle if your secondary is loaded with psychopaths.
4. Spend coaching time on fundamentals rather than mastering a complex playbook. What we see every year are college kids trying to learn Riley’s pro playbook, when 99% of these guys will never turn pro. That is an extremely wasteful use of time. Simply if the playbook, and use all that new found additional time to cleanup the fundamentals (e.g. penalties, false starts, precision execution, etc).
5. Etc etc. I could go on with many many more ideas, but it’s Labor Day weekend, and I am headed out now. But you get the idea. The Beavs claim they can’t recruit, yet even if we concede that, they cannot claim they’re efficient. In fact, I’d say they are one of the least efficient teams I’ve ever watched. If OSU wants to hire me as a consult just contact me. I’d help change this shit around within weeks.

If you can’t beat them or join them then outsmart them; Mike Riley has to be one of the most stubborn (possibly dense) coaches around. He’s trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. This is not the NFL, this is not even Canadian Football, yet he’s making the game esoteric for young kids, not recognizing  weaknesses, not recognizing undervalued player traits, and just not thinking outside the box or creatively in a town where you have to do that to win. If a person isn’t willing to adapt or change their philosophies they’ll eventually get in their own way. If you try to force something that isn’t natural it’ll eventually fail–this goes from relationships with women to the U.S. Bond Market to NCAA offensive philosophies and everything in between. Forcing = failing. For all Riley’s football knowledge (as the Pollyannas claim), he doesn’t have much common sense or creativity.

I’m watching the Washington @ Hawaii game.

This Hawaii QB is mobile and runs the read option. He’s making good decisions. Their D is playing well, too.

Now add Norm Chow being brighter than Riley, Beavs having to travel, and the surprisingly raucous crowd…this game is a week away but I’m getting a Utah 2008 deja vu feeling watching this.